Software Tips
TruePlanning Optimization
Have you ever been asked questions such as, what is the maximum number of source lines of code (SLOC) I can get and remain within my budget? or what is the maximum number of hardware items I can produce and still remain within my budget? Questions such as these can be answered through the versatility of the TruePlanning Calibration tool. Let me illustrate beginning with the SLOC example.
SLOC Optimization
First begin by performing a normal cost estimate for your software project. If the cost is under your budget and the project contains all the software functionality you would like, you are "home free". If you have excess budget and would like to see how much more functionality you can add or if you are over budget and need to consider eliminating some functionality to stay within budget, then the following is for you.
Let's say that the requirements call for 10,000 SLOC of C++ code. Using TruePlanning with the True Systems and True S catalogs, the total cost is $873,299, but our budget is only $750,000. How many SLOC can we purchase given our budget? This question can be answered quickly and easily using the TruePlanning Calibration tool. Open the TruePlanning Calibration tool and select a New calibration. On the Calibration Settings screen, for the Inputs Cost Selection, choose the Software Component cost object and New Code Size. For the Output Cost Selection, choose System Folder and Estimated Cost. For the Target Value, enter the $750,000 and adjust the Tolerance and Maximum Iterations, as shown below.
Now, on the Calibrations screen, click on Calibrate and the answer appears as the Calibrated Input. As shown below, we can purchase 8,594 SLOC with our $750,000 budget. Next the big question is, what functionality can we safely eliminate in going from the 10,000 SLOC to the 8,594 SLOC?
Hardware Quantity Optimization
The question of hardware quantity optimization is much like the SLOC optimization, only the True H, rather than the True S, catalog is used. For our example, our customer would like 100 hardware items, but is constrained to a $10,000,000 budget. The estimate is currently $11,638,104. We could simply divide the current cost by 100 to get an average unit cost and then divide the average unit cost into the budget to get the number of units we can purchase, but this approach ignores the effects of learning on the cost of the hardware items. A better approach is to use the TruePlanning Calibration tool.
Once again, we open the TruePlanning Calibration tool and select a New calibration. On the Calibration Settings screen, for the Inputs Cost Selection, choose the Hardware Component cost object and production Quantity. For the Output Cost Selection, choose System Folder and Estimated Cost. For the Target Value, enter the $10,000,000 budget and adjust the Tolerance and Maximum Iterations, as shown below.
Now, on the Calibrations screen, click on Calibrate and the answer appears as the Calibrated Input. As shown below, we can purchase 73 hardware items with our $10,000,000 budget.
From these two examples, you can see the power and versatility of the TruePlanning Calibration tool. The range of application is only bounded by your ingenuity in using the tool. Happy estimating!
